Are you buying slavery?
7 min read
Lai (not her real name) paid for her own airfare to get from Ho Chi Minh to KL. After arriving, she was arranged to work in a massage parlour where her employer...
No easy task to educate
6 min read
Nothing could have prepared me for school. If I thought having a degree from a US college and a job at a big consulting firm in the city were enough, I was wron...
From China with Love
6 min read
If you spend a few hours in any of KL’s shopping malls (and increasingly, Penang and other major Malaysian cities), you might perchance notice a number of...
Highlights of George Town Festival 2014
16 min read
Wrecking Crew Orchestra EL Squad.Shanghai Starlight Acrobatic Troupe.Bunditpatanasilpa Institute.Racehorse Company....
Eight bountiful acres
4 min read
The way to 8 Acres was very fruitful, pun intended. In the car with friends and colleagues, we made a brief stop along the trunk road for some nangka. Each frui...
Taking education outside the school
6 min read
According to the World Bank, in 2010, 14% of our GDP per capita consisted of public spending on primary education. Singapore on the other hand recorded 11.2%...
URGENTLY NEEDED: Reform of Malaysia’s regime police
6 min read
Nine years have passed since the release of the landmark 2005 Dzaiddin Royal Commission Report and its 125 recommendations for police reforms, including the f...
Making Penang a slave-free state
5 min read
Penang is not immune to human trafficking. Women, men and children from Penang have been and are being trafficked, and many more are hugely vulnerable to traffi...
An Afternoon at the Malaysian Tamil Barbershop
8 min read
Malaysian is often found in some evident but overlooked places, unseen for having been so obvious. A most authentic bit of Malaysian heritage – and reality – can be discovered in the Tamil barbershop.
A brewery of cultures
5 min read
Antarabangsa, one of Penang’s most popular bars, hasn’t got a pretty face. But don’t judge a book by its cover—this place is the crossroads where locals and foreign visitors come together in peace, and tipsiness.
Who says you can’t make videos in Penang?
4 min read
Entering the premises of local production house RisingOneMedia, I half-expected high-tech cameras lying scattered on the floor and an important creative discuss...
Kyogen : An awesome tradition seeking a future
6 min read
At a time when traditional performances – be they wayang kulit, Hokkien puppet theatre or bharatanatyam – cling to the fringes of our society as TVs...